Meet Kaylah! - Harmony Project Music school

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The fact that I am still standing and still have my business . . . and honestly, any sanity left . . . is nothing short of miraculous!

Meet one of TSC's founding members, Kaylah! She's awesome...

Kaylah is the owner of Harmony Project Music Learning Center in Wyoming. Her studio has two locations in Wyoming, the first of which she opened in the small town of Wheatland. 

Though Kaylah's studio is growing and she's done amazing things for her community, her journey has been ANYTHING but easy. 

​Here's her story...

The Beginnings...

"I started playing the violin when I was 7 years old. A year later my teacher’s full time job was transferred to Cheyenne (which was 70 miles away).

She was the ONLY violin teacher in our tiny town of 3,500 people so our only options were to start driving or quit... 

My parents made the decision to start driving.

​Every week for the next decade we drove 140-160 miles each week for my lessons."

Kaylah said the sacrifice her parents had made for her sparked her desire to give kids in her hometown, Wheatland, the same opportunities  given to her without having to make the same kind of sacrifices.

​"So, I decided to pursue a music education degree and start teaching private lessons," she said.

Kaylah began by teaching out of her parents’ basement.

"I started with just one student whose mom had put a plea for a violin teacher out on our local radio station," she said.

​"By the end of that year I had 5 students. It was almost 10 years later that I decided to move out of my house and get an actual location to teach from, at which point I also had the hair-brained idea to invite a piano teacher and a guitar teacher to come join me."

Kaylah said when she decided to officially launch her studio, her biggest struggle was transitioning teaching into a full time job.

"There was a lot of stress the first year that I moved the studio out of our house because of the fear of the unknown and the potential instability of being completely dependent on lessons for my primary income — especially since I had no formal business training and my husband was constantly in and out of being employed! There was a lot of pressure that I HAD TO succeed!"

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Today...

Kaylah has come a long way in the past few years! 

Today, her studio Harmony Project has 2 growing locations, over 100 students and 6 teachers between them.

Kaylah has not only fulfilled her dream of providing the kids in her small town the opportunity to take violin, but thanks to her, they can now also take lessons in multiple instruments (everything from piano and guitar, to violin, harp, flute, etc)!

The last 2 years have been the most challenging for Kaylah...

Since 2018, Kaylah has had to work through:

• The sudden death of her brother in a car accident a week after his 21st birthday,
• The sudden death of her closest uncle,
• Taking over primary care of her toddler nieces temporarily,
• and a divorce.

(Kaylah said she was actually in the middle of launching her second location when her brother passed!)

"The fact that I am still standing and still have my business . . . and honestly, any sanity left . . . is nothing short of miraculous!

However, I have to say that I WOULD NOT trade any of the events of the last 2 years because they have ALL caused me to grow!

​Spiritually, physically, emotionally, as a business owner, as a friend, as a musician, as a person in general, I've grown all across the board! I am so thankful to have a faithful core of students who have never given up on my studio because they know me and they trust me, but I am also thankful for our numbers starting to climb again after a pretty dramatic drop due to Covid!

All in all, I am incredibly blessed to get to do what I love every single day and to share that love of music and of people with a pretty spectacular #MusicFam as a way to make a living!

Things can only go up from here, and I am really excited to see what God does next!"

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"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1: 2 - 4

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We want to send a HUGE thanks to Kaylah for sharing her story with us this week! 

We are truly inspired by her grit, and cannot wait to see what awesome things the future holds for her. Kaylah is a fighter and bound for success. 

If Kaylah's story resonated with you and you'd like some help and support with your music school, check out TSC's Silver Membership.

​No matter what you teach or where you're from, we're here to help you achieve YOUR studio goals.